says, what makes a truly great manager lies in a few fairly obvious things. What Google found out of the data from their internal study is exactly what makes a great Google manager. Which may have nothing to do with what makes a great Lufthansa manager, for example.

Google is heavily reliant on solid data, even in their HR, a field often relying only on experience and intuition. Forward-thinking companies though, like Google, are turning more and more to data to complement experience and intuition. (See Todd (more…)

Performance interventions (whether learning, e-learning, on the job, or a complete organisational transformation) are most likely to deliver fast, permanent gains in performance if there is a clear contract before the intervention. A contract between the line manager and the participant(s).

One critical element is clarity on what is expected of the participant on the job after the intervention; coupled with feedback on how well they are currently doing vs. expectations.

The lean way, pioneered by Toyota over 50 years ago, adds value for the customer by eliminating waste and identifying “the best way.” Lean is not yet much used for “soft” processes, like learning and development; but those of our clients already using lean for manufacturing see clearly that we have brought lean thinking to human factors and human performance transfer.

Lean, or one of the other ways of systemically and continuously improving any process, is at the heart of most technical development, design and manufacturing today. If done (more…)

What makes for a successful organisation has changed significantly over the past 20 years, and will certainly change even more in the next 20 years. We just don’t know (yet) what successful organisations will be like in 2042!

Nor exactly what successful performers will be doing to drive organisational performance.

What we do know is that the best organisations already have their star performers. And a few of these are centred in the needs of tomorrow; already doing today what your future success will require from all.